Magny Cours to replace Korea on 2011 calendar-rumour

Magny Cours is a potential replacement venue should the inaugural Korean grand prix fall off the 2010 calendar.

That is the rumour published in the latest edition of France’s Auto Hebdo magazine.

Last month, Bernie Ecclestone even visited the site of October’s Korean race and told the media that the October date is definitely still on.

But the uncertainty about the event has persisted, and Auto Hebdo reports that teams do not want to see the calendar shrink from the scheduled 19 races at short notice.

Magny Cours is famously not the F1 chief executive’s favourite venue, but Auto Hebdo says the idea of being a reserve track for Korea is the idea of Gilles Depeigneux, an advisor to prime minister Francois Fillon.

The stumbling blocks, however, are said to be the EUR20 million budget as well as political opposition.